SPOKANE, Wash. — Just two months remain in the Western Hockey League's regular season and every game that remains has more importance attached to it. After missing the playoffs last season, the Chiefs were in position to get themselves back into the post season as they held the 8th and final playoff spot entering the first week of February. The lead was precarious though as Spokane held just a one point advantage over Tri City as the Chiefs entered a demanding three games in three nights stretch over the first weekend of the month.
Spokane had dropped two of three at home the previous home stand against the top three teams in the West, but had still managed to stay in the last playoff spot. The Chiefs now faced a new challenge as they hit the road to take on division leading Everett and the team directly chasing them in Tri City. Spokane would finish the 3 in 3 weekend with a home contest against the #6 team in the West, the Kelowna Rockets.
First up was a trip to Everett on the back half of a home and home between the Silvertips and the Chiefs. The Tips had visited Spokane on Tuesday and had used a 3 goal third to pull away to a 7-4 victory. Friday's game to Everett was the first trip to the Silvertips since game two of the season back on September 24th when Spokane knocked off the Tips 4-1. Everett had won three straight on the Chiefs home ice since then so Spokane was hoping to turn around the season series and keep the road teams unbeaten in the meetings between the two.
Head Coach Ryan Smith returned behind the bench after leading Team Canada in the World Youth Olympics in Korea the previous two weeks. The Chiefs were still without forward Lukas Kral, who remained sidelined by an upper body injury.. Everett was coming off an 8-2 win over Tri City in their previous game and had won 9 of 10 heading into Friday's tilt. The Silvertips jumped out quickly Friday as they scored on their first two power play chances to take a 2-0 lead midway through the first. Spokane countered on their first power play as Layton Feist scored for the second straight game against the Tips at 13:45 to draw within 2-1. Back came Everett as they scored two minutes later to grab a 3-1 advantage after the first. Everett dominated in the shot department in the first, out chancing the Chiefs 21-9 in the opening frame.
In the second, Spokane turned things around completely, as Ty Cheveldayoff scored just 34 seconds into the period to get the Chiefs within 3-2. Just 1:20 later, Berkly Catton put a perfect pass to Connor Roulette for his 31st of the season to even the game at 3-3. Rookie Owen Martin then scored his first goal since New Year's Eve on a rebound of his own shot at 6:04 to put Spokane on top for the first time at 4-3. Everett rallied to score their 3rd power play goal in as many attempts late in the second to tie the game up at 4-4 heading into the third period.
The Chiefs were being out shot 2-1 by a 35-17 margin after two periods and had gone 0-3 on the penalty kill, yet were tied going into the final period. Spokane would get 3 straight power plays to start the third and would capitalize on the final opportunity as Catton scored his team leading 33rd of the year at 8:40 to put the Chiefs up 5-4. The team's penalty kill came up big in the third as well, as they knocked off 2 Everett power plays in the final half of the third to keep the lead. Defenseman Saige Weinstein would seal the win with an empty netter the length of the ice in the final minute to wrap up a 6-4 victory. After being down 3-1 after one, Spokane scored 5 of the final 6 goals for their second win in Everett this season as the road teams were now a perfect 5-0 in the series.
Even more importantly for the Chiefs, the win put them 3 points ahead of Tri City for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West. Spokane now had a chance to extend that margin as they headed to Kennewick to take on the Americans the following night. It was the first meeting between the two since Spokane had handed Tri an 11-3 loss on their home ice on New Year's Eve. There was no doubt the Ams were going to come out desperate and look to not only avenge that loss, but pull themselves within a point of the Chiefs for the final playoff spot in the West. Saturday's game would be the Dawson Cowan show in the first period as the Chiefs goaltender turned aside all 20 Tri City shots in the first to keep the game scoreless after one.
Spokane was looking for a better start in the second, but the Americans came out and scored on their first two shots of the period in the first 52 seconds of the period to take a quick 2-0 lead. The Chiefs got back in the game on the penalty kill midway through the period as Chase Bertholet scored on a penalty shot at 13:40 to cut the deficit to 2-1. Tri City would answer back though as they would score 2 seconds after their power play expired to go back up by two at 3-1. Spokane was fortunate to still be in the game as they had been outshot 38-19 after two and had to kill off the only 4 power plays of the contest.
The Chiefs got the start they needed in the third as Will McIsaac scored on a back door feed just 24 seconds into the final frame to cut the Tri lead to 3-2. Spokane couldn't keep the momentum though as Tri scored just 2:05 later on a Jackson Smith goal to go up 4-2. The Americans got one power play in the third and converted as Smith scored his second of the night 1:04 later to make it 5-2 Tri City. Owen Martin scored in his second straight game with a rebound at 5:27 and the Chiefs brought it back to 5-3. It was as close as Spokane would come as the Chiefs failed to score on their only power play of the game midway through the third and the Americans tacked on an empty net goal in the final minute to secure a 6-3 victory.
The loss saw the Chiefs lead over Tri City cut to one point for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West and was the Americans third win in 5 tries against Spokane this season. The club had a chance to secure a winning weekend though as they headed home to host the #6 team in the West in Kelowna on Sunday afternoon. The Chiefs trailed the Rockets by 7 points in the conference and had split the first two games with the Rockets in the season series. Spokane had won the last game 8-5 at home in the two teams last meeting back in late October.
The Rockets were coming off an 11-1 thumping at the hands of Portland Friday and looked determine to flush that result in Sunday's tilt. Kelowna scored just 1:24 into the game to jump out to an early 1-0 lead. The Rockets then got a Tij Iginla goal midway through the period to take a 2-0 edge. Carter Streek would get the Chiefs jump started with a steal and then scored his 4th goal of the year at 11:50 of the period to bring Spokane within 2-1. Rasmus Ekstrom then evened the game 43 seconds later with his 10th of the season to make it 2-2. Just as the Chiefs celebrated tying the game, the Rockets Iginla scored his second of the period just 10 seconds after Ekstrom's goal to give Kelowna a 3-2 lead after the first.
Spokane would get a power play late in the first that carried over into the second. Brayton Crampton carried the puck into the Kelowna zone and from his knees pushed the puck towards the Rockets net. Crampton crashed into the net and Rockets goalie Jake Pilon as the puck carried into the goal. After the initial ruling of a face off outside the Kelowna end, a lengthy video review showed the puck carried into the goal and Crampton was credited with a power play tally just 17 seconds into the period to tie the game at 3-3. The goal jump started the Chiefs as Berkly Catton followed with his team leading 34th of the year at 9:21 to give Spokane their first lead at 4-3. The Rockets countered 1:40 later as Hiroki Gojsic scored his second goal of the game to bring Kelowna even at 4-4. Only 1:49 later, Catton would counter with his second of the night as Spokane regained the lead at 5-4. Rookie Coco Armstrong then gave the Chiefs their first two goal lead of the night with his 5th of the season at 19:04 to make it a 6-4 game. Gojsic then registered his first career hat trick with his third of the game only 16 seconds later to cut the lead to 6-5 Spokane after two.
The offensive fireworks didn't die down starting the third either, as Connor Roulette scored on a Catton feed just 13 seconds into the third period to put Spokane up 7-5. The scoring deluge slowed down after that though, as Streek would cap the scoring with his first multi-goal game of the season with a goal at 9:45 to cap off the Chiefs 8-5 victory. It was Spokane's second straight 8-5 win at home over Kelowna this season and gave the Chiefs two wins in 3 games over the weekend. The victory proved to be huge as Tri City lost their game at Portland while Seattle won over Victoria. Spokane expanded their lead to 3 points over Tri for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West while maintaining a 4 point edge over Seattle in the U.S. Division.
The Chiefs now have 21 games left in the season and hold the final playoff spot as they head into another big week. Once again Spokane will face the same three teams for the second straight week as the club will host Tri City at the Arena on Friday before heading out on the road to face Everett and Kelowna on Saturday and Tuesday. Needless to say, every game will be key towards Spokane's goal of making the playoffs. I'll have the call for Friday's and Tuesday's games on 103.5 FM the Game and 1510 AM KGA with the pre-game shows at 6:30 pm and the puck drops at 7:05 pm. Saturday's game from Everett will be on 94.1 FM the Bear and 790 AM KJRB due to Gonzaga basketball with the pre-game at 5:30 pm and the puck drop at 6:05 pm.
We'll see if the Chiefs can match their success from this week and we hope to see you at the rink!
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